Ronneberg/Murphy BERKUT N91DR

Summary

On 12 August 1995 at about 22:10 local time, a Ronneberg/Murphy BERKUT registered N91DR, operated by Experimental Aviation, Inc., was involved in an accident near Santa Paula, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 August 1995 at 22:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Paula, California, United States

Nearest airport

Santa Paula (SZP)

Coordinates

34.4008, -119.0707

Aircraft

Ronneberg/Murphy BERKUT

Registration

N91DR

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Experimental Aviation, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX95LA289

1 person died.

the pilot's inadvertent entry into an accelerated stall in a maximum performance high-g turn at an altitude insufficient to recover aircraft control prior to colliding with the ground.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was doing a demonstration air show routine, one that he had performed in this aircraft for over 2 years. Near the end of the performance, the pilot entered his standard 8g minimum radius knife edge turn about 200 feet agl. The accident sequence was videotaped by a spectator. About 270 degrees into the turn, the aircraft burbled, or rocked the wings slightly. The videotape showed the aircraft increase the angle of attack just before the burble was observed. Following the burble, the left wing dropped and the aircraft rolled left 270 degrees to a near wings level flight attitude. The aircraft then descended in a nose-up pitch attitude behind a tree line and impacted the ground. The aircraft designer stated that the wing plan form is a modified delta similar to the Vari-EZ/Long-EZ designs, which incorporates a forward canard for pitch control. The pilot sits in a high g-tolerant reclined position. During flight test, no main wing stall has been induced due to g-loads imposed on the aircraft. FAA inspectors examined the aircraft twice and found no discrepancies. Air show pilots who performed just before the accident pilot said that the airmass was smooth with no unusual turbulence or other meteorological phenomena noted.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.